Following her guilty pleas, charges of making threats to kill her three children were "left on the books and not to be proceeded without the leave of the Crown or the Court of Appeal''.

Charles MacCreanor QC, prosecuting, told the court that in October 2015 renovation work was being carried out on the Zaman family home.

He said that the work had been under way for three weeks and the defendant felt it would have been a "much quicker job but that was not the case''.

The prosecuting counsel told Judge Piers Grant that during the course of the renovation work the family had been "sleeping in one bedroom in the upstairs of the property.

"Two of the three children, the mother and father, were sleeping on mattresses on the floor and the youngest child, aged two, was sleeping in a cot in the room. It was a pretty chaotic scene.

"It is clear that in the days before this offence the building work was having an impact on the mother. She was concerned for their children and there was also the build up of dust.''

Mr MacCreanor QC said extensive medical reports covering this period showed that Rasa Zaman went to the accident and emergency department at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald on October 1, 2015 with her concerns about the house and the effect it would have on her children and had also contacted social services and they gave "appropriate assistance''.

"On October 12, 2015, Mr Qamar Zaman woke up to hear one of the children crying. The defendant was standing by the bed and she was saying to her husband 'they have to die'.

"She said that the children would be taken away from them by social service and that if they were taken away they 'would be abused'.''

"She then said to her husband that it would be better to kill the children. She told him: 'We have to kill them'."

The prosecution counsel said that her husband got up and pushed her away from the bed.

"He said she was getting more and more angry and she tried to grab the child but he wouldn't let her. He threatened to call the police and pushed her towards the door.''

The defendant went out of the room and the father tended to his children only to be "struck on the back of the head with an LCD television''.

"He fell to the floor and it appears to have been knocked unconscious for a short period of time,'' said prosecution counsel.

"When he came to, he saw his wife's hands around the neck of their four-year-old daughter and she was strangling her.

"He got up, grabbed her arms and took the arms away from the child's neck. He managed to remove the defendant from the room for ten minutes."

The court heard the defendant wanted to go back into the room but her husband prevented her and took her outside of the house "to hold her and calm her down...and asked for neighbours to help''.

One neighbour later told police that she heard Qamar Zaman shout: "She is going to kill the kids'', adding that he had blood coming from his head.

Police arrived a short time later and Rasa Zaman was arrested and taken into custody.

Mr MacCreanor QC said: "The four-year-old daughter was found by police to have red marks around her neck consistent with what Mr Zaman had told the officers.''

Another daughter was found by police "secretly hiding herself away in the cot''.

The injured child was taken to the Ulster Hospital where she was found to have purple bruises to her neck and right shoulder.

Mr Zaman, the court heard, required treatment to the bite mark on his arm and three staples to the injury to the back of his head.

When interviewed by police under caution, Rasa Zaman said she had "little recollection'' of what happened.

The prosecution counsel added: "She couldn't believe what she had been told. She spoke of asking for help, about the state of the building work on her home and her concerns the children would be taken away and abused.''

The court heard that the defendant later spent three and a half months in the Downshire hospital in Downpatrick, Co Down, where a psychiatrist who examined her noted that at the time of the incident she had suffered a "serious breakdown....with matters coming to a head that morning''.

The psychiatrist added she was suffering from depression which was of a "moderate severity''.

Judge Piers Grant was told that a few days after she was remanded in custody for the offences, Zaman made a "serious attempt to end her own life''.

Mr MacCreanor QC said that by April 2016, she was "extremely sorry and was grateful that there was no tragic outcome in this matter''.

A pre-sentence report by the Probation Service did not assess Zaman as posing a significant risk of serious harm but was assessed as a medium likelihood of reoffending.

A Victim Impact Report stated that the incident had had a "significant impact on the children'' who were placed in foster care until February this year when they were reunited with their father and "returned to a stable home''.

"The impact of this incident on the child remains to be determined. Everything that can be done is being done by statutory agencies but they are still waiting to determine how the child has been affected. A child protection plan is going to be put in place.''

Zaman has had no direct contact with her children since her remand and the court heard that when released from custody, Zaman could be allowed supervised contact with her children but it would have to be permitted by the health trust.

Mr MacCreanor QC added: "It is a very difficult case in many respects and remains a tragedy for all involved.''

Defence counsel David McDowell QC said that there had only been one contact between Rasa Zaman and her husband Qamar when she sent him a WhatsApp message last December when she asked him to "make sure the kids were OK''.

He responded by telling her to "fix herself and get herself well''.

She asked him to send her a picture of their daughter she tried to strangle to death but he sent a picture of all three children.

"After that she had no more contact with him. She gave the phone to staff in hospital and there has been no contact with the children or him since.

"It was her daughter's birthday on the fourth of this month and she made clothing, a handbag and stuffed toys and dols for her and the other children.

"Mrs Zaman loved her children before this incident and loves them still.''

Mr McDowell QC told the court that Mrs Zaman had a long history of depression, dating back to when she was aged 14 or 15 when she tried to commit suicide following the death of her father. He added that she also suffered post natal depression following the birth of her youngest child.

During the course of the building work, he said that she had asked for help from social services, accident and emergency, the police, a teacher at her daughter's school and the Citizens Advice Bureau.

"She could not have tried much harder to get help in this case,'' said the defence QC.

The court heard that so concerned was Zaman about the dust in her house, she took her children to stay with family friends for a weekend but Mr McDowell QC said it was "not an ideal situation'' as there were seven children under the one roof.

He added that she had made "significant progress'' in her mental health state following the time she had spent in the Downshire Hospital and had now served the equivalent of two year sentence in custody while on remand.

"Had this resulted in death, thankfully it didn't, she would have been charged with manslaughter as a result of diminished responsibility. But that defence is not open for attempted murder.

"She has expressed regret for her actions and gratitude to her husband for protecting their children. She has to live with this for the rest of her.

"All she can think about is her children. They are all that matters to her. She hopes to see her children again once all the child protection measures are put in place by social services,'' added Mr McDowell QC.

Judge Piers Grant told Zaman that he would sentence her next week once he was assured that child protection measures were in place and remanded her back into custody.